News on Unlock’s work for individuals

We’ve just published our update for November 2018. This months update includes: New information on the Homelessness Reduction Act which came into force earlier this year. A link to the updated list of offences that will never be filtered published by the Disclosure and Barring Service A personal story about

We’ve just published our update for October 2018. This months update includes: New information on EU nationals staying in the UK and deportation from the UK due to a criminal record. A link to updated information on becoming a magistrate. A personal story on applying for and successfully being

We were contacted recently by an individual who wanted some advice about answering a criminal record question being asked by a housing provider on their housing application form. The question on the application form stated: Have you or any member of your household ever been convicted of a criminal offence? Yes/No The individual

Our helpline was contacted recently by a probation officer who was working with an individual looking to apply for a college course. She believed that the wording on the application form was unclear as the question asked: Please declare whether you have any relevant* convictions or current proceedings against you: Yes/No *Relevant proceedings or

Looking back over the last couple of months, we’ve written up a few examples of the people we’ve helped. We hope they give a good idea of how we help people. However, more importantly than our role, we think that these examples show how people with convictions are able to overcome some of the barriers

As part of his sentence in 2012, Joseph was put on the Sex Offenders Register for five years and given an indefinite SOPO. Whilst he’d always been concerned that there were some fundamental flaws with the SOPO, he’d been advised to ‘live with it’. As 6 years had passed since the conviction, Joseph was considering

Alice had been employed as a care support worker for 15 years during which time she’d worked for several different companies who were responsible for running a care home contract. They’d all been aware of her historic (over 30 years old) convictions and had always risk assessed her as ‘posing no threat to clients’. However,

Wayne had been working as a consultant for several years when he was offered a paid job working for one of his clients. After accepting the job he’d been told that he would be working on a government contract and would need security clearance. Wayne contacted our helpline and explained that he had two convictions which

We’ve just published our update for September 2018. This months update includes: A new list of insurance brokers who are able to provide commercial insurance policies to people with a criminal record. An advice post highlighting the details of a case heard in the Supreme Court around the disclosure

We’ve just published our update for August 2018. This months update includes: An update post setting out changes to the ‘disqualification by association’ element of the Childcare Disqualification Requirements which came into effect on 31st August 2018. A link to updated information on applying to university. A personal story explaining

We’ve just published our update for July 2018. This months update includes: An advice post setting out the way in which conditional cautions are recorded on the Police National Computer and how this impacts on their being filtered from standard and enhanced DBS checks. A link to some general information

Looking back over the last couple of months, we’ve written up a few examples of the people we’ve helped. We hope they give a good idea of how we help people. However, more importantly than our role, we think that these examples show how people with convictions are able to overcome some of the barriers